DAY 5: Monday 10th May 2010 : Lead, Wyoming to the Little Big Horn to Sheridan Wyoming
This morning was our visit to the Little Bighorn Battlefield. They only do this additional extra on certain trips, so check wisely when booking. It's worth making the effort for this day alone. It was a fair drive to Sheridan, Wyoming (named after Di’s cat, she says) so we had an hour stop at Walmart before heading out. Love Walmart – they sell virtually everything. Di wouldn’t let me buy a hunting rifle though, so I bought cookies for everyone instead.
As we approached the battlefield, Jack told us about the events of that day, showing us both Visitor Center movies to save time when we got there. The second one, made in the 1950s, was very different in tenor to the one currently being shown. It referred to “the massacre” at the Little Bighorn. I was amazed to find they only stopped showing this movie in 2003! Crikey. The modern movie is more balanced, talking about both sides and the prevailing circumstances.
At the entrance to the battlefield grounds, we took a short stop at a cemetery which, like Arlington, is a National Cemetary for servicemen who have died in all battles since the Spanish-American War. Then we headed, in the bus, across the battlefield, seeing where the Lakota were and where the various armies were.
As well as a memorial on the peak of Last Stand Hill to the white men and Indian scouts of the day, there is now, a little further down the hill, a memorial to the Lakota, Arapahoe and Cheyenne who also died there. There’s even a memorial to the horses that were killed in battle or used by Custer’s men as ‘breastworks’ to provide cover for the soldiers on the exposed side of the hill.
We’d watched the movie Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman (the film has him in it, he wasn’t on the bus!) on the way up and it also gave some context to the battles. As we headed back to the Visitor’s Center, they announced a Ranger talk was about to start.
The Ranger was a very enthused former teacher (who apparently wouldn’t have quit if he’d been allowed to use some of those battlefield weapons in the classroom!) Custer had 600 men, mostly undertrained and untested against about 1000 Indian warriors who had trained all their lives to protect their group. The Army had single-shot, Springfield breach-loading rifles whereas the Indians had repeating rifles such as the Henry rifle, hatchets and very fearsome knives with three blades, clubs, as well as their bows and arrows. The firepower on the battlefield, as well as the skills, were phenomenal – something the Errol Flynn movie, They Died With Their Boots On fails to mention!
At the time of the Battle, the Sioux had never been held on reservations – they were fighting for their way of life. President Grant had ordered them to be returned to reservations as they tried to leave for Canada and a less threatening lifestyle. The Indians refused and it was Custer’s mission to return them, to prevent them from splitting up into smaller, less manageable, more disparate groups.
Custer had graduated West Point Academy bottom of his class yet he had an excellent war record, and he is still the youngest soldier to be given the rank of Brigadier General (a temporary position) at 23 years of age. He had fought, and won, multiple battles, often against the odds. Expediency and fear of discovery of his men led Custer to enter into another battle against the odds, splitting the troops into three smaller groups. The terrain and warrior skills were overwhelming however, and Custer didn’t stand a chance of winning this one.
Initially, the men were buried in shallow graves on the site of the battle, but they were later moved, with markers left to indicate where they had fallen. White markers were used for the Seventh Cavalry and red for the senior Indian Chiefs that died.
The shortness of our stay – and the prolonged Ranger talk – meant there was no time to stop and check out the museum exhibits, nor the gift shop! I would have liked about another hour to see everything and really get to know the place, but that’s the nature of bus tours – very much tasters to places you find you’d like to see more of, when you have the time.
Our hotel for the night was to be the Holiday Inn in Sheridan, Wyoming. It was a large hotel with an impressive open lobby area, the Greenery Restaurant, a coffee shop and seating area. We chose the hotel’s sports bar in which to have dinner and it was not bad.
